New IMFS Interdisciplinary Study on Quantitative Easing available

12. September 2017

Over the past years, the European Central Bank (ECB) has adopted a new course. Its expansionary monetary policy has reached an unprecedented scale. With quantitative easing (QE), the ECB has almost quadrupled its balance sheet. Investors are still wondering how this will go on at the beginning of 2018. The aim of the new IMFS Interdisciplinary Study entitled "Quantitative Easing in the Euro Area: Its Record and Future Proespect" is to shed some light on this phenomenon.

As a starting point, Peter Praet illustrates the expansionary monetary policy from the ECB’s point of view, giving account on the use of QE in response to disinflationary pressures. Subsequently, Julian Callow, Element Capital, shares his view on QE from a markets perspective. In their joint contribution, David Folkerts-Landau and Stefan Schneider of Deutsche Bank identify the risks that emerge in connection with QE. In their view, the increasing concentration of risk on the Eurosystem balance sheet is alarming. Looking back at the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 and, thus, a collapse in rates of growth of net banking credit and total net new bond issues, Alex Cukierman draws some lessons for the debt crisis in the euro area. Finally, Guenter W. Beck and Volker Wieland focus on the end of QE, making a proposal how to normalize monetary policy in the euro area.